Angiosperm Families Research Articles

Modified Ovule Clearing Technique to Examine Monosporic Apinagia-type Embryo sac Development in Indotristicha ramosissima (Podostemaceae- Tristichoideae)

In this current study, a re-examination of various stages of monosporic embryo sac development in Indotristicha ramosissima (Podostemaceae-Tristichoideae) has been attempted utilizing a modified ovule-clearing technique specifically tailored for this unique angiosperm family. It is worth noting that ovules within the family Podostemaceae typically contain silica, which poses challenges for tissue clearing. Consequently, there has been limited success in ovule clearing within this family. My investigation confirmed the presence of a 4-nucleate and monosporic Apinagia type of embryo sac in this species, in contrast to prior beliefs of embryo sac following a bisporic Allium type pattern. Additionally, my findings revealed that the embryo sac develops only after the degeneration of one of the dyads during megasporogenesis.

Potential ethnobotanical relevance of Lycianthes sanctaeclarae (Greenm.) D`Arcy (Solanaceae): A review

Introduction: The Solanaceae family is one of the most important families of angiosperms from an economic point of view. With nearly 100 genera and 3,000 species, it includes important food, condiment, and medicinal plants. One of the three most varied and extensive genera of Solanaceae is Lycianthes. Lycianthes sanctaeclarae (Greenm.) D’Arcy, is a species native to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. which is found in the rainforest at an altitude of 0 to 600 meters above sea level. Objective: The purpose of this research is to obtain information about the species Lychianthes sanctaeclarae for the determination of the ethnobotanical potential of said species, through a bibliographic database review. Method: A bibliographic review and an analysis of the possible ethnobotanical applications, biological activities, and chemical constitution of the Solanaceae family, specifically Lycianthes sanctaeclarae, were conducted. Results: Solanaceae has floristic, ethnobotanical, ornamental, ritual, economic, and medical importance. They include a wide variety of phytochemicals, among which alkaloids stand out, with interesting biological properties, with anticholinergic activity being the most investigated. Conclusions: The lack of information that exists on the species Lycianthes sanctaeclarae was determined. Even so, due to its relationship with the Solanaceae family, it is possible to consider that this species could be a striking option for the development of new drugs; However, it is necessary in the future to identify, isolate, purify, and characterize the bioactive compounds that this species has by constructing its phytochemical profile.

Distinctive plastome evolution in carnivorous angiosperms

BackgroundIndependent origins of carnivory in multiple angiosperm families are fabulous examples of convergent evolution using a diverse array of life forms and habitats. Previous studies have indicated that carnivorous plants have distinct evolutionary trajectories of plastid genome (plastome) compared to their non-carnivorous relatives, yet the extent and general characteristics remain elusive.ResultsWe compared plastomes from 9 out of 13 carnivorous families and their non-carnivorous relatives to assess carnivory-associated evolutionary patterns. We identified inversions in all sampled Droseraceae species and four species of Utricularia, Pinguicula, Darlingtonia and Triphyophyllum. A few carnivores showed distinct shifts in inverted repeat boundaries and the overall repeat contents. Many ndh genes, along with some other genes, were independently lost in several carnivorous lineages. We detected significant substitution rate variations in most sampled carnivorous lineages. A significant overall substitution rate acceleration characterizes the two largest carnivorous lineages of Droseraceae and Lentibulariaceae. We also observe moderate substitution rates acceleration in many genes of Cephalotus follicularis, Roridula gorgonias, and Drosophyllum lusitanicum. However, only a few genes exhibit significant relaxed selection.ConclusionOur results indicate that the carnivory of plants have different effects on plastome evolution across carnivorous lineages. The complex mechanism under carnivorous habitats may have resulted in distinctive plastome evolution with conserved plastome in the Brocchinia hechtioides to strongly reconfigured plastomes structures in Droseraceae. Organic carbon obtained from prey and the efficiency of utilizing prey-derived nutrients might constitute possible explanation.

Diversity of Plants and Their Cultural Significance in The Kotagede Heritage Sites, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This research aims to demonstrate the value of intangible assets at heritage sites for species conservation. The study is located in Kotagede, a remnant of the Kingdom of Mataram Islam. A floristic survey was performed at major sites, including the Grand Mosque, the Royal Cemeteries, and the Water Reservoir Area (Sendang). Data on intangible knowledge of plants was collected through interviews with caretakers (juru kunci) and visitors to Kotagede. A total of 61 species from 41 families of angiosperms were recorded, and many of them were cultivated and purposefully planted for cultural needs. Several species were cultivated due to their medicinal use and source of food. Overall, this study concluded that heritage sites serve as physical assets for preserving history and intangible assets that contain intangible value. Conservation of plant species occurs due to cultural and philosophical values that are closely related to the existence of the heritage.

Genomic data and ecological niche modeling reveal an unusually slow rate of molecular evolution in the Cretaceous Eupteleaceae.

Living fossils are evidence of long-term sustained ecological success. However, whether living fossils have little molecular changes remains poorly known, particularly in plants. Here, we have introduced a novel method that integrates phylogenomic, comparative genomic, and ecological niche modeling analyses to investigate the rate of molecular evolution of Eupteleaceae, a Cretaceous relict angiosperm family endemic to East Asia. We assembled a high-quality chromosome-level nuclear genome, and the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of a member of Eupteleaceae (Euptelea pleiosperma). Our results show that Eupteleaceae is most basal in Ranunculales, the earliest-diverging order in eudicots, and shares an ancient whole-genome duplication event with the other Ranunculales. We document that Eupteleaceae has the slowest rate of molecular changes in the observed angiosperms. The unusually low rate of molecular evolution of Eupteleaceae across all three independent inherited genomes and genes within each of the three genomes is in association with its conserved genome architecture, ancestral woody habit, and conserved niche requirements. Our findings reveal the evolution and adaptation of living fossil plants through large-scale environmental change and also provide new insights into early eudicot diversification.

ETHNO-MEDICINAL WEEDS OF PALANPUR TALUKA, GUJARAT, INDIA

India has been a treasure of Ayurvedic herbs since ancient times. In todays era of allopathic medicine this knowledge is diminishing to the extent that people cannot even identify common herbs. A weed is a plant that does not need to be cultivated and grows naturally in abundance in monsoons. This work focuses on how the people of Palanpur taluka use weed as medicine. A total of 88 species were found during the study, out of which 45 species belong to 43 Genera of 20 different angiosperm families, used in medicine and for other useful purposes. It is used in diseases like fever, cold, cough, skin disease, and physical weakness and some are use as vegetables.

Fossil endocarps of Menispermaceae from the late Paleocene of Paris Basin, France

AbstractMenispermaceae are an angiosperm family of mostly climbing plants distributed throughout tropical regions. The fruits in this family have a strong sclerified endocarp and can be used for reliable species‐level identifications, even in a fossilized form. New Paleocene‐age menispermaceous endocarps have recently been discovered in South America and Asia, while in Europe, they are mostly found in the Eocene. This paper focuses on the study of fossil endocarps belonging to Menispermaceae, found in the Petit‐Pâtis locality, which is one of the few Paleocene localities in Europe. The locality is dated to the late Paleocene (57–56 Ma) and the fossils represent flora and fauna in the Paris Basin before the onset of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Lignitized fossils were photographed and their morphology was analyzed using computed tomography, scanning electron microscope, and geometric morphometric analysis. The analysis of 36 fossils belonging to Menispermaceae revealed that three genera (Stephania, Palaeosinomenium, Tinospora) were present in the late Paleocene of Paris Basin. Differences in internal morphology and a more inflated endocarp base led to a description of a new fossil species—Palaeosinomenium oisensis sp. nov. The occurrence of these genera in the Paleocene of France is consistent with the suggestion that megathermal flora was present in the Paris Basin before the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. These three genera are currently the oldest occurrences in Europe, highlighting the connection between paleofloras of the Americas, Europe, and Asia in the Paleocene.

Geographical and life-history traits associated with low and high species richness across angiosperm families.

The phenomenal expansion of angiosperms has prompted many investigations into the factors driving their diversification, but there remain significant gaps in our understanding of flowering plant species diversity. Using the crown age of families from five studies, we used a maximum likelihood approach to classify families as having poor, predicted or high species richness (SR) using strict consensus criteria. Using these categories, we looked for associations between family SR and i) the presence of an inferred familial ancestral polyploidization event, ii) 23 life history and floral traits compiled from previously published datasets and papers, and iii) sexual system (dioecy) or genetically determined self-incompatibility (SI) mating system using an updated version of our own database and iv) geographic distribution using a new database describing the global distribution of plant species/families across realms and biomes and inferred range. We find that more than a third of angiosperm families (65%) had predicted SR, a large proportion (30.2%) were species poor, while few (4.8%) had high SR. Families with poor SR were less likely to have undergone an ancestral polyploidization event, exhibited deficits in diverse traits, and were more likely to have unknown breeding systems and to be found in only one or few biomes and realms, especially the Afrotropics or Australasia. On the other hand, families with high SR were more likely to have animal mediated pollination or dispersal, are enriched for epiphytes and taxa with an annual life history, and were more likely to harbour sporophytic SI systems. Mapping the global distribution of georeferenced taxa by their family DR, we find evidence of regions dominated by taxa from lineages with high vs low SR. These results are discussed within the context of the literature describing "depauperons" and the factors contributing to low and high biodiversity in angiosperm clades.

Cationic and anionic detergent buffers in sequence yield high-quality genomic DNA from diverse plant species

Because of the heterogeneity among seedlings of outbreeding species, the use of seedling tissues as a source of DNA is unsuitable for the genomic characterization of elite germplasms. High-quality DNA, free of RNA, proteins, polysaccharides, secondary metabolites, and shearing, is mandatory for downstream molecular biology applications, especially for next-generation genome sequencing and pangenome analysis aiming to capture the complete genetic diversity within a species. The study aimed to accomplish an efficient protocol for the extraction of high-quality DNA suitable for diverse plant species/tissues. We describe a reliable, and consistent protocol suitable for the extraction of DNA from 42 difficult-to-extract plant species belonging to 33 angiosperm (monocot and dicot) families, including tissues such as seeds, roots, endosperm, and flower/fruit tissues. The protocol was first optimized for the outbreeding recalcitrant trees viz., Prosopis cineraria, Conocarpus erectus, and Phoenix dactylifera, which are rich in proteins, polysaccharides, and secondary metabolites, and the quality of the extracted DNA was confirmed by downstream applications. Nine procedures were attempted to extract high-quality, impurities-free DNA from these three plant species. Extraction of the ethanol-precipitated DNA from cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) buffer, i.e., the extraction using a cationic (CTAB) detergent followed by an anionic (SDS) detergent was the key for high yield and high purity (1.75–1.85 against A260/280 and an A260/230 ratio of >2) DNA. A vice versa extraction procedure, i.e., SDS buffer followed by CTAB buffer, and also CTAB buffer followed by CTAB, did not yield good-quality DNA. PCR (using different primers) and restriction endonuclease digestion of the DNA extracted from these three plants validated the protocol. The accomplishment of the genome of P. cineraria using the DNA extracted using the modified protocol confirmed its applicability to genomic studies. The optimized protocol successful in extracting high-quality DNA from diverse plant species/tissues extends its applicability and is useful for accomplishing genome sequences of elite germplasm of recalcitrant plant species with quality reads.

New Melastomataceae hosts of Chrysoporthe species in Brazil

AbstractThe angiosperm Melastomataceae family is one of the most abundant plant families worldwide and in the Brazilian cerrado, with significant environmental importance in regenerating degraded areas, especially those previously occupied by pastures. Recently, Chrysoporthe Gryzenhout & M. J. Wingf. species were reported in Brazil, causing canker, branch dieback, and mortality in native Melastomataceae. This leads to the demand for further investigation and understanding of these pathosystems. During field surveys, typical signs and symptoms associated with Chrysoporthe infection were found in Rhynchanthera grandiflora (Aubl.) D C. and Miconia theaezans (Bonpl.) Cogn. in southern Minas Gerais. Through phylogenetic analysis of the BT1 and BT2 fragments of the β‐tubulin gene and morphological characterization of the isolates obtained, it was possible to identify C. doradensis Gryzenh. & M. J. Wingf. occurring in R. grandiflora and C. puriensis M. E. S. Oliv., T. P. F. Soar. & M. A. Ferr. occurring in R. grandiflora and M. theaezans. Furthermore, pathogenicity assays confirmed the pathogenicity of both species to their hosts.

Assembly and comparative analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of Isopyrum anemonoides (Ranunculaceae).

Ranunculaceae is a large family of angiosperms comprising 2500 known species-a few with medicinal and ornamental values. Despite this, only two mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of the family have been released in GenBank. Isopyrum anemonoides is a medicinal plant belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, and its chloroplast genome has recently been reported; however, its mitogenome remains unexplored. In this study, we assembled and analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of I. anemonoides and performed a comparative analysis against different Ranunculaceae species, reconstructing the phylogenetic framework of Isopyrum. The circular mitogenome of I. anemonoides has a length of 206,722 bp, with a nucleotide composition of A (26.4%), T (26.4%), C (23.6%), and G (23.6%), and contains 62 genes, comprising 37 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and three ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Abundantly interspersed repetitive and simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were detected in the I. anemonoides mitogenome, with tetranucleotide repeats accounting for the highest proportion of SSRs. By detecting gene migration, we observed gene exchange between the chloroplast and mitogenome in I. anemonoides, including six intact tRNA genes, six PCG fragments, and fragments from two rRNA genes. Comparative mitogenome analysis of three Ranunculaceae species indicated that the PCG contents were conserved and the GC contents were similar. Selective pressure analysis revealed that only two genes (nad1 and rpl5) were under positive selection during their evolution in Ranunculales, and two specific RNA editing sites (atp6 and mttB) were detected in the I. anemonoides mitogenome. Moreover, a phylogenetic analysis based on the mitogenomes of I. anemonoides and the other 15 taxa accurately reflected the evolutionary and taxonomic status of I. anemonoides. Overall, this study provides new insights into the genetics, systematics, and evolution of mitochondrial evolution in Ranunculaceae, particularly I. anemonoides.

The first record of Pisolithus arhizus (Sclerodermataceae, Basidiomycota) in Central Asia

Pisolithus is a genus of gasteroid mycorrhizal symbionts associated with trees of several families of angiosperms and gymnosperms and distributed almost worldwide. Here we report a new record of Pisolithus arhizus from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the first record of this species in Central Asia. The fruit bodies of P. arhizus were collected in several locations within the city and identified based on morphological characters. The ectomycorrhizal fungus formed symbiotic relationships with Juniperus sp. and Quercus sp. We provide its morphological description and photographs and also discuss our findings in the context of previously known records of this species.

Pharmacological and ethnobotanical studies of angiosperms from Shamli region of district Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

Plants are essential to our life as they provide us with food and, through photosynthesis, release oxygen into the atmosphere. Historical accounts about plants demonstrate their many benefits to humans and other living things. Rapid population growth and industrialization have damaged agricultural and forest flora. Raising awareness of the value of plants for sustainable development is necessary. This study focuses on the medicinal benefit of the phyto-diversity of angiosperms from the Shamli region of Uttar Pradesh and their medicinal value for mankind. Shamli is located near the Ganga River, on the eastern side of the Yamuna River at an elevation of 248 meters above sea level. This region's ideal temperature is between 13.8°C and 33.2°C. The vegetation of Shamli is enhanced by a variety of trees, shrubs, and plants. In addition to documenting fifty plant species that belong to several angiosperm genera and families, such as Abutilon indicum, Aegle marmelos, Azadirachta Indica, Moringa oliefera, and Calotropis gigantea, a critical study of the area's plant life has been conducted. The engagement with the locals of the Shamli region recorded the ethnomedicinal significance of the collected plants.

Traditional use of Polypores in Georgia (the Caucasus)

Background: The present work was intended to explore the quantitative ethnobotany and conservation status of flora of Koh-e-Suleman range, Razmak valley, North Waziristan, Pakistan. For the first time, significant traditional knowledge of the uses of reported flora was documented. Objective: The aim of the present study was to: (i) elucidate local populations' traditional knowledge of indigenous plants used for various purposes (ii) compile ethnomedicinal data using quantitative analyses for in-depth pharmacological evaluation of medicinal plants. (iii) evaluate the reported flora's conservation status. Methods: Ethnobotanical data were analyzed using quantitative tools, i.e., Relative frequency citation (RFC), use value (UV), and fidelity level (FL). Results: 102 participants including 75 men and 27 women were interviewed. The participants reported a total of 68 plant species, belonging to 57 genera and 19 families. There was 1 family of pteridophytes (1 species), 1 family of gymnosperms (4 species) and 63 species belonging to 17 families of angiosperms. Of the total reported plants, 38 were fodder species, 37 were medicinal species, 5 were timber species, 9 were fuel species, 8 were fruits species, 1 was vegetable species, 5 were condiment species, 2 were thatching species, 9 were ornamental species while none of the species was poisonous in nature. Conservation status revealed that 49 species (72.05 %) were vulnerable, 12 species (17.64 %) were rare, 6 species (8.82 %) were endangered, and 1 species (1.47 %) was found infrequent. Conclusion: The current study showed the majority of the species were used as fuel wood, medicines, and fodder. As most plant species have significant curative properties, a rotational and moderate grazing system is required to conserve the plants. Local residents must inculcate in their children the importance of floral diversity and conservation. Keywords: Anthropogenic activities, Conservation status, Endangered species, Quantitative ethnobotany, Razmak valley.

Comparative Floristic Analysis of Angiosperms of Bundi District– A Part of Haroti Plateau (Rajasthan)

Plant diversity plays an important role in the life of human beings, by way of providing many valuables produces. They help in maintaining the biodiversity in an ecosystem. Abundant species diversity is essential for wealth of natural ecosystems and environment of the area. The present paper highlights comprehensive data on the current status of angiosperms diversity of Bundi district. The flora of Bundi comprises 629 species of angiosperms belonging to 381 genera under 104 families. The area shows much diversity of geographical forms and ecosystem ranges. This district is rich in scenic beauty and biodiversity. The ten dominant families of the area have been compared with those of adjacent areas as well as Upper-gangetic plain, North Gujrat and Delhi. The present work provides comparative analysis among angiosperms families, genera and species.

Ethno-medicinally Important Plants Utilized in Therapeutic Remedies on Various Ailments Found in Different Tribes of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT), India

The forest areas in Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (U.T.’s of DNH) has a wide variety of flora available, which contains several medicinal values known to the local tribes. Hence, it was thought of interest to survey the area for such plants and study their therapeutic values. An ethnomedicinal survey at a different remote area among the local communities of forest was carried out and details of the plants used in the folk medicine in Dadra and Nagar Haveli is presented in this work. Ethnobotanical surveys were made frequently for few years in favorable seasons of plants. Plants were identified by experts or by using established Flora. Details tabulated enumeration of 29 Genera with 30 Species belonging to 19 Angiosperm families have been studied. The verbal data of medicinal practices by tribals during survey has been gathered to record the plants being used traditionally by tribes to treat common human ailments such as common cold, fever, headache, hair and cutaneous eruptions, dental problems, complications in digestive, respiratory, circulatory, excretory, nervous, orthopedic and venomous bites, etc. The information on ethnomedicinal uses of plants has been presented with their scientific names, habits, local name with site, present status, plant parts used in treatment with suitable methods. The plants with ethnobotanical value identified in this study needs immediate conservation, plantation and rearing of endangered species at their natural habitats or also farming to local level.

Invasive alien plants are phylogenetically distinct from other alien species across spatial and taxonomic scales in China.

Phylogenetic relatedness is one of the important factors in the community assembly process. Here, we aimed to understand the large-scale phylogenetic relationship between alien plant species at different stages of the invasion process and how these relationships change in response to the environmental filtering process at multiple spatial scales and different phylogenetic extents. We identified the alien species in three invasion stages, namely invasive, naturalized, and introduced, in China. The occurrence records of the species were used to quantify two abundance-based phylogenetic metrics [the net relatedness index (NRI) and the nearest taxon index (NTI)] from a highly resolved phylogenetic tree. The metrics were compared between the three categories of alien species. Generalized linear models were used to test the effect of climate on the phylogenetic pattern. All analyses were conducted at four spatial scales and for three major angiosperm families. We observed significantly higher NRI and NTI values at finer spatial scales, indicating the formation of more clustered assemblages of phylogenetically closely related species in response to the environmental filtering process. Positive NTI values for the invasive and naturalized aliens suggested that the presence of a close relative in the community may help the successful naturalization and invasion of the introduced alien species. In the two-dimensional phylogenetic space, the invasive species communities significantly differed from the naturalized and introduced species, indicating that established alien species need to be phylogenetically different to become invasive. Positive phylogenetic measures for the invasive aliens across the spatial scales suggested that the presence of invasive aliens could facilitate the establishment of other invasive species. Phylogenetic relatedness was more influenced by temperature than precipitation, especially at a finer spatial scale. With decreased temperature, the invasive species showed a more clustered assemblage, indicating conservatism of their phylogenetic niche. The phylogenetic pattern was different at the family level, although there was a consistent tendency across families to form more clustered assemblages. Overall, our study showed that the community assemblage became more clustered with the progression of the invasion process. The phylogenetic measures varied at spatial and taxonomic scales, thereby highlighting the importance of assessing phylogenetic patterns at different gradients of the community assembly process.

From leaves to labels: Building modular machine learning networks for rapid herbarium specimen analysis with LeafMachine2.

Quantitative plant traits play a crucial role in biological research. However, traditional methods for measuring plant morphology are time consuming and have limited scalability. We present LeafMachine2, a suite of modular machine learning and computer vision tools that can automatically extract a base set of leaf traits from digital plant data sets. LeafMachine2 was trained on 494,766 manually prepared annotations from 5648 herbarium images obtained from 288 institutions and representing 2663 species; it employs a set of plant component detection and segmentation algorithms to isolate individual leaves, petioles, fruits, flowers, wood samples, buds, and roots. Our landmarking network automatically identifies and measures nine pseudo-landmarks that occur on most broadleaf taxa. Text labels and barcodes are automatically identified by an archival component detector and are prepared for optical character recognition methods or natural language processing algorithms. LeafMachine2 can extract trait data from at least 245 angiosperm families and calculate pixel-to-metric conversion factors for 26 commonly used ruler types. LeafMachine2 is a highly efficient tool for generating large quantities of plant trait data, even from occluded or overlapping leaves, field images, and non-archival data sets. Our project, along with similar initiatives, has made significant progress in removing the bottleneck in plant trait data acquisition from herbarium specimens and shifted the focus toward the crucial task of data revision and quality control.

DNA-free high-quality RNA extraction from 39 difficult-to-extract plant species (representing seasonal tissues and tissue types) of 32 families, and its validation for downstream molecular applications

BackgroundHigh-purity RNA serves as the basic requirement for downstream molecular analysis of plant species, especially the differential expression of genes to various biotic and abiotic stimuli. But, the extraction of high-quality RNA is usually difficult from plants rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols, and their presence usually interferes with the downstream applications. The aim of the study is to optimize the extraction of high-quality RNA from diverse plant species/tissues useful for downstream molecular applications.ResultsExtraction of RNA using commercially available RNA extraction kits and routine hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) methods did not yield good quality DNA-free RNA from Prosopis cineraria, Conocarpus erectus, and Phoenix dactylifera. A reliable protocol for the extraction of high-quality RNA from mature leaves of these difficult-to-extract trees was optimized after screening nine different methods. The DNase I-, and proteinase K treatment-free modified method, consisting of extraction with CTAB method followed by TRIzol, yielded high-quality DNA-free RNA with an A260/A280 and A260/A230 ratios > 2.0. Extraction of RNA from Conocarpus, the most difficult one, was successful by avoiding the heat incubation of ground tissue in a buffer at 65 oC. Pre-warming of the buffer for 5–10 min was sufficient to extract good-quality RNA. RNA integrity number of the extracted RNA samples ranged between 7 and 9.1, and the gel electrophoresis displayed intact bands of 28S and 18S RNA. A cDNA library constructed from the RNA of P. cineraria was used for the downstream applications. Real-time qPCR analysis using the cDNA from P. cineraria RNA confirmed the quality. The extraction of good quality RNA from samples of the desert-growing P. cineraria (> 20-years-old) collected in alternate months of the year 2021 (January to December covering winter, spring, autumn, and the very dry and hot summer) proved the efficacy of the protocol. The protocol’s broad applicability was further validated by extracting good-quality RNA from 36 difficult-to-extract plant species, including tissues such as roots, flowers, floral organs, fruits, and seeds.ConclusionsThe modified DNase I and Proteinase K treatment-free protocol enables to extract DNA-free, high-quality, intact RNA from a total of 39 difficult-to-extract plant species belonging to 32 angiosperm families is useful to extract good-quality RNA from dicots and monocots irrespective of tissue types and growing seasons.

Pseudanthia in angiosperms: a review.

Pseudanthia or 'false flowers' are multiflowered units that resemble solitary flowers in form and function. Over the last century the term 'pseudanthium' has been applied to a wide array of morphologically divergent blossoms, ranging from those with easily noticeable florets to derived, reduced units in which individual flowers become almost indistinguishable. And although initially admired mostly by botanists, the diversity and widespread distribution of pseudanthia across angiosperms has already made them a fascinating topic for evolutionary and developmental comparative studies. This review synthesizes historical and current concepts on the biology of pseudanthia. Our first aim is to establish a clear, operational definition of pseudanthium and disentangle common terminological misconceptions surrounding that term. Our second aim is to summarize the knowledge of morphological and developmental diversity of pseudanthia and embed it within a modern phylogenetic framework. Lastly, we want to provide a comprehensive overview on the evolution and ecological importance of pseudanthia and outline perspectives for future studies. The understanding of pseudanthia changed multiple times and reflects three different interpretations of their 'flower-like' qualities: developmental (similarity in structure), figural (similarity in form and function), and phylogenetic (homology between angiosperm flowers and monoecious reproductive shoots in gymnosperms). Here, we propose to narrow the term pseudanthium to multiflowered blossoms resembling zoophilous flowers in form, i.e., in being structurally subdivided in a showy periphery and a reproductive center. According to this definition, pseudanthia sensu stricto. evolved independently in at least 40 angiosperm families. The recurrent acquisition of pseudanthia sensu stricto in all major lineages of flowering plants indicates repeated interactions between developmental constraints (smallness of flowers, meristematic conditions) and selective pressures, such as demands of pollinators and/or environmental conditions.